Splitting the Difference with Mikes Revenge [Exclusive Interview]

Splitting the Difference with Mikes Revenge

2/4/2019

Mikes Revenge is an Atlanta-based DJ duo with releases on Buygore, Prime Audio and just released on track on BASSCVLT with Jimmy Wit An H and Junior Charles.

Mikes Revenge has just come off from playing an epic double header Super Bowl party at Havana Club in Buckhead, an iconic feature of Atlanta night life since 1996. That's just one highlight of an already killer year for these guys. They recently dropped an aggressive single called "Gang Shit" on Basscvlt that prompted some in the community to wonder if Mikes Revenge can bring trap back in 2019. And that sounds pretty promising from a group who takes local legend Mayhem as an inspiration. Reveng Sarainy and Michael Donahue both assure me they "are sitting on plenty of music," and "2019 is going to be a year of production" for them. Another track has already been picked up by an undisclosed label, so expect a lot more from Mikes Revenge this year.

What's the backstory of Mikes Revenge? How do you know one another and what prompted you to start playing music together?
Michael: We met when we were teammates in the Gwinnett Soccer Academy which was our club soccer team in tenth grade. We continued our friendship through college where we partied together and our appreciation for DJing and production grew. After a pretty crazy summer, we decided that we should team up and combine our skills since we were already good friends and our talents complemented each other well. So our first show after that was Kingdom Rave with the "One More Time" Daft Punk tribute set at Metro Lanes. We got hit with the opening slot in the smallest room, which was expected for our first show. Given the timeslot, we weren't hoping for much, but our expectations got blown away. A couple of the other stages weren't running yet, so everyone flooded to the room we were playing in. We played two hours straight to a packed room the whole time. After that, we knew this was a great fit.

What do you consider your musical influences in EDM? Do you draw inspiration from other styles of music as well? What do you find yourselves listening to lately?
Michael: Being from Atlanta, trap has had a huge influence on us - we really love hip hop and electronic trap, and it shows in our music.

Reveng: Personally, being from the Middle East has helped give our music a more Arabian feel in certain areas. We listen to a variety of music like lo-fi when we're chilling, hip-hop when we want to get crunk, and electronic when we are just trapping it out.

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A post shared by MikesRevenge (Reveng/ Michael (@mikesrevenge) on Dec 12, 2018 at 10:00am PST

Which came first, DJing or producing? Or did you always do both?
Reveng: DJing came first for me but it was the other way around for Mike. He was on GarageBand a couple years before we met.

Michael: I used to listen to 95.5 The Beat back in 5th grade. I loved hip hop, but also was forced to learn and love classical music, so those kind of blended together. I started messing around with GarageBand around the time dubstep and trap were blowing up. Then I met Rev and we both wanted to do the same thing, so we just went for it.

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A post shared by MikesRevenge (Reveng/ Michael (@mikesrevenge) on Aug 18, 2018 at 6:56am PDT

Is there a philosophy, theme, guiding principle, or any cohesive element behind your music? Or do you just go with the feeling in the moment?
Reveng: The philosophy or theme surrounding Mikes Revenge can be seen in our logo design. Our bear is a half normal and a half cyborg. This is meant to signify the difference between Mike's personalities and musical tastes and my own - kind of like Yin and Yang. Regardless of the differences we combine to become one. As far as music goes, we start with a blank canvas and chip away till we create something that we deem should be shared with the world.

A huge thank you to Mikes Revenge for taking the time to answer our questions! Go and check out their social media pages for all of the latest show updates and new music!